Playing-ball.



PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

H. BENTZ.

PLAYING BALL.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

UNITEDTSTATES Patented August 2, 1904.

HARRY BENTZ, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PLAYING-BALL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 766,160, dated August 2, 1904.

Application filed November 27, 1903. Serial No- 182.698- (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY BENTZ, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Playing-Balls, of which the following is a specification accompanied by drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in playing-balls, such as golf-balls and the like, and its object is to minimize the tendency of the balls to crack while in play.

To this end the invention consists of a playing-ball for carrying out the above object embodying the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts, substantially as hereinafter fully described and claimed in this specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is an outside view of a ball embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a side View, partly in section, of the same.

Playing-balls, such as golf-balls and the like, of the rubber-core type, are made with a small center about which is wound a continuous rubber thread or band under tension, or else the core may be covered with solid rubber under compression, and then the whole is covered with a shell or outer jacket of suitable material, as gutta-percha or compound of gutta-percha and some other material, to give increased strength and enable the ball to better withstand the severities of play. Inasmuch as the rubber-filled center or core is more resilient than the outer jacket or shell of gutta-percha, the tendency of the jacket or shell is to crack under the compression produeed by the stroke from a golf-club or other playing instrument.

According to this invention provision is afforded for the yielding of the outer shell or jacket when the ball receives a blow either from a playing instrument or from impact of any kind. To obviate the tendency to crack and afford a point or points of yielding, as it were, for the force of expansion or distortion of the core resulting from impact, a small hole or a number of such holes are made, either before or after molding, in the outer shell, preferably at the opposite ends of diameters.

In Fig. 1, A represents a golf-ball, and B the outer shell thereof, of gutta percha, provided with the holes C. As indicated in Fig. 2, the holes 0 extend through the outer shell B. The core D may be of any suitable or desirable construction. The core I) is imperforate and may comprise a small solid center wound with rubber or covered with solid rubber under compression.

The holes C may be of any desired shapeas, for instance, circular or angular in crosssection-and they may be of any convenient size. If desired, they may be filled with soft rubber or other resilient or elastic material. In Fig. 2 one of the holes C is shown filled with soft rubber E, and the holes may be all so filled, or any desired number of them may have the plugs E, of resilient material, therein. In the drawings the ball is shown provided with four holes equally spaced upon the circumference at the opposite ends of diameters, and this is an efficient construction.

It will be seen from the above description, in connection with the drawings, that the material of the outer shell, which is of less resiliency than the material of the inner core, entirely envelops the latter except at the points referred to and that the shell is free of any connection with the core except as to its natural inclosure thereof.

The advantages of this construction, wherein the shell is free of any connection with the core except as to its natural inclosure thereof, rcside in the fact that the imperforate core is free to assume distorted shapes under impact without tendency to distort the outer shell in the same degree-that is to say, the core does not tend to pull or push the shell into distorted shapes and place it under a strain for the next stroke of the club. On the other hand, the shell is free to expand and contract and flatten without dragging the inner solid core with it, thereby greatly reducing the tendency of the shell to be placed under a strain tending to crack the same under a stroke or sharp impact against an obstruction. The function of the apertures in the shell is, as stated, to enable the shell to yield at given points under the forces tending to distort it, and the combination of the apertures in the shell with the imperforate core in the shell all contrive to bring about the improved results I have named.

Obviously this invention may be embodied in varying forms.

Therefore without limiting the invention or enumerating equivalents, I claim, and desire to obtain by Letters Patent, the following:

A ball such as used for golf, the same. con-i sisting of an imperforate resilient core and an outside shell'of less resilient material, said shell being apertured to prevent cracking and otherwise entirely enveloping the core and said shell being free of any connection with the core except as to its natural inclosure of the same.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY BENTZ. Witnesses:

STUART BENTZ, JOHN C. DOYLE. 

